Weighing device for vehicles



April 28, 1931.

H. M. SWARTLEY WEIGHINGDEVICE FOR VEHICLES Filed Jan. 51, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Maw April 28, 1931. M sw 1,803,041

WEIGHING DEVICE FOR VEHICLES Filed Jan. 31, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOE ci ar)" Patented Apr. 28, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HARRY SWARTLEY, OF ROXBOROUGH, PENNSYLVANIA WEIGHING DEVICE FOR VEHICLES Application filed January 31, 1930. Serial No. 424,774. My invention relates to new and useful imdescribe its construction in detail, referring provements in a weighing device for vehicles, by numerals to the accompanying drawings and has for one of its objects to improve the forming a part of this application, in invention disclosed in my, Patents No. which 1,584,489, dated May 11, .1926 and N0. Fig. 1,is a fragmentary plan view showing 5 tion.

1,734,751, 'dated'November 5, 1929, whereby the rear end of the vehicle with my improved the apparatus is used oroperated only when weighing device connected therewith, a pora weight indication is desired, thereby elimition of the bottom of the vehicle body being nating the constant wear upon the parts of broken away to clearly illustrate the location [0 the device as a vehicle'is traveling. and relation of the several parts.

Another object of the invention is to pro Fig. 2, is a fragmentary end view of the vide for automatically disengaging the parts same. of the operating mechanism after the same Fig. 3, is a fragmentary side elevation has been actuated to obtain a weight indicathereof.

Fig. 4, is an enlarged rear elevation of the A further object of the invention is to proindicating mechanism. vide an improved motion transmitting means Fig. 5, is an edge view thereof. fora, device of this character in order to ob Fig. 6, is a front face view of the same. tain at all times an accurate indication of the Fig. 7 is an enlarged rear face view of the a weight of the load or the combined weight of operating mechanism with a portion of the 1 the load and vehicle. I pulley broken away to show one of the A still further object of theinvention is to grooves to receive a cable and showing in provide an indicating mechanism or strucdotted lines the position of the arm for obture similar to that shown in my former pattaining a weight indication.

ents or a slight variation thereof and to mount Fig. 8, is an edge view of Fig. 7.

a grooved pulley or equivalent means on a In carrying out my invention as herein shaft of the indicating mechanism; to proembodied, 10 represents a vehicle including vide an operating mechanism similar to that a rear axle 11 mounted on wheels 12 and also shown in' my Patent No. 1,734,751, and promounted on said axle is the frame or chassis vide the same withagroovedpulley or equiva- 13 carrying the body or box 14 which may lent thereof; to attach ends of a spring, rope, be of the stationary or dumping type and Wire or other flexible means or equivalent cahereafter the frame or chassis and the body ble to the pulleys whereby motion will be or box will be considered together as the body transmitted from the operating mechanism and of course it will be understood that 3 to the indicating mechanism and to provide wherever the word axle is used, it includes means for manually rotating the pulley of the the stationary part thereof whether it be the operating mechanism to permit of a weight casing or the differential housing or a beam indication on the weight mechanism, said acting as a part of an axle.

parts being returned to their normal inopera- From the underside of the body depends 9 tive positions upon release of the means by a hanger 15 which carries at its lower end a 9 which the operating mechanism is manually trunnion 16 either stationary or rotatable actuated. and on this trunnion is mounted a pulley 17 With these and other ends in view, this inor its equivalent preferably provided with vention consists in the details of construction two peripherial grooves 18 and 19, although I and combination of elements hereinafter set it is to be understood that two separate pulg forth and then specifically designated by the leys or equivalent devices mav be utilized.

claims. An arm 20 is mounted for movement-with In order that those skilled in the art to the pulley l7 and therefore if said pulley is which this invention appertains may underrotatable upon the trunnion, said arm 20 is stand how to make and use the same, I will connected directly to such pulley but where the pulley is movable with the trunnion, then said arm 20 may be mounted directly upon the trunnion. The arm 20 is adapted to cooperate with a stop 21 projecting from some suitable portion of the rear axle or rear axle assembly so that the movement of said arm and associated parts are conditioned upon the positions of the trunnion 16 and the stop 21 relative to each other, therefore when the body is depressed relative to the axle, the movement of the arm to bring the same in contact with the stop 21 is less than when the body is in, what might be termed, its normal position.

The arm 20 is normally held in an inoperative position, in this case an elevated position, by a spring 22 or its equivalent, the

same preferably being of the coiled type with one end anchored at 23 on the bracket or hanger 15 as stationary element and the other end connected at 24 to the pulley 17 as the 'movable element and the movement of said arm by the spring is limited by a stop pin 25, carried by some suitable part of the operating mechanism, such as the pull y 17 as herein illustrated, Figs. 7 and 8, or by the arm 20 or even by one or both of the cables to be presently described, the said stop pin coacting with some stationary element, such as the bracket 15 at the end of the movement. The hanger 15, the pulley 17 and the arm 20 with their associated and component parts are to be considered as the operating mechanism.

The indicating mechanism 26 includes a stationary dial 2. provided withfeet 28 having holes 29 therein for passage of fastening devices by which the entireindicating mechanism or structuremay be secured to a suit-- able support and more particularly the body of the vehicle. It will be understood that said feet might be formed on a frame member to which the stationary dial is secured. To the feet is secured a bearing strip 30 in which is journalled one end of theshaft 31 while the other end of said shaft is journalled 1n the stationary dial or an equivalent support and this shaft in addition to carrying the indicating hand 32 has a pulley 33 or its equivalent mounted thereon for movemen there-With. Stud pulley, shaft and indicat- 'ing hand are normally moved clockwise by the operating mechanism through the medium of a cable 34, one end of which is wound on the pulley 17 within one of its grooves and fastened in place while the other end is wound upon the pulley 33 with its end fixed in the groove of said pulley whereby said indicating hand will be normally held or returned to the zero position indicated in Fig. 6.

The pulley 33, shaft 31 and pointer hand 32 are moved counter clockwise when the cable 34 is slack-ened by a spring 35 preferably of the coiled type having one end. an-

of the operating mechanism necessary to bring the arm 20 into contact with the stop 21 and the distance between the arm 20 and stop 21 is regulated in the first instance by the compression of the vehicle springs or the depression of the vehicle body relative to the axle on which the stop 21 is mounted. The indicator hand 32 co-operatcs with numerals 38 on the face of the stationary dial 27 to indicate the weight of the load in the vehicle due to the depression of the vehicle body and said hand also cooperates with numerals 39 on the secondary or movable dial 40 which is journalled on the shaft 31 so as to be revolved thereabout and when the required adjustment of the secondary dial is obtained, it may be held stationary by a clamp 41 connected with the stationary dial by a screw 42, the nose of said clamp over-' lapping the secondary dial to pull it against the stationary dial when the screw is drawn up. The secondary dial is used for indicating the combined weight of the vehicle and its load so that if the weight of said vehicle is known to be two hundred pounds, as an example, said movable or secondary dial is rotated until the numeral 200 thereon aligns with the zero on the stationary dial and said secondary dial is then clamped in place. It will now be obviousthat with any movement of the hand 32 around the dials to a point where the load is indicated as eleven hundred pounds, as an example, then the cable 43 having one end wound on the pulley 17 in the groove 19 and fixed to said pulley while the other endextends to a point in proximity to the indicating mechanism where said cable may be provided. with a pull ring 44 or any equivalent so that a person desiring a weight indication may readily grasp the pull ring to actuate the operating mech anism. V I

It is preferable that the cables be shielded or protected throughout the major parts of their lengths in which case they may run through metal tubes 45.

While I have described my invention with the pulley 33 mounted directly upon the shaft 31 carrying the indicator hand. it will be obvious that if preferable, the pulley 33 could be mounted upon a secondary shaft with a gear train between the two shafts as shown in both of my prior patents mentioned herein without deviating from the fundamental principles of my invention.

The operation of the device is as follows The parts being attached as above described, the indicator 32 will be adjusted upon the shaft 31 until it registers with zero upon the primary or stationary dial. Then when it is desired to obtain a weight indication of the load in the vehicle or the combined weight of said load and the vehicle, the cable 43 is pulled so as to actuate the operating mechanism and rotate the pulley 17 until the arm 20 contacts with the stop 21. The actuation of the operating mechanism in this manner tends to slacken the cable 34 which allows the spring 35 to move the indicating hand 32 counter clockwise a distance equal to the ratio between the pulley 33 and the pulley 17 in proportion to the movement necessary to bring the arm 20 into contact with the stop 21 The weight indication having been obtained, the cable 43 is released and the operating mechanism will be actuated in the opposite direction by means of the spring 22 which will wind up both cables and actuate the indicating mechanism against the action of its spring 35 to return the indicating hand 32 to the zero position.

From the foregoing, it will be obvious that when the device is not actually manually operated to obtain a weight indication, the parts are in inoperative positions and no movement is transmitted from any part to another, thus saving the several elements from unnecessary wear.

Of course I do not wish to be limited to the exact details of construction as herein shown, as these may be varied within the limits of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and useful is 1. The combination with a vehicle including a body and axle, of a stop fixed to the axle, a hanger fixed to the body, a pulley rotatably supportedby said hanger, an arm coactingly connected with said pulley for contact with the stop to regulate the movement of said pulley in one direction in proportion to the depression of the vehicle body relative to the axle, an indicating mechanism including dials having units of weight delineated thereon, an indicating hand, and means to move said indicating hand, a pulley included as a part of said hand moving means, a spring to move the indicating hand in one direction, flexible means connected with the two pulleys for transmitting motion from the first men tioned pulley to the second mentioned one, means to normally move the first mentioned pulley in a direction to move the second mentioned pulley against the action of its spring,

and means connected with the first mentioned pulley whereby it may be manually actuated to permit the indicating mechanism to be with said hanger, an arm associated with said pulley for movement therewith, a stop secured to the axle of the vehicle for regulating the movement of the arm in proportion to the depression of the body relative to the axle, a

spring to normally rotate the pulley and arm 1 in that direction which will disengage said arm from the stop, a weight indicating mechanism mounted on the vehicle body including dials, a rotatable hand, and an associated pulley, said hand and pulley rotating in unison, a spring tending to rotate the pulley and hand in one direction, the action of the last named spring being contrary to that of the first mentioned spring, flexible means connected with the pulleys whereby rotation of the first mentioned pulley against the action of its spring will relieve tension on the flexible means and permit the second mentioned spring to operate the indicating mechanism for obtaining a weight indication, and means connected with the pulley of the operating mechanism for manually actuating said operating mechanism to permit the weight indication to be obtained.

3. In a device of the kind described, an operating mechanism including a stop connected with the axle of a vehicle, a pulley supported by the body of the vehicle, an arm for rotation with said pulley and for coaction with said stop, and a spring to rotate the pulley and arm in one direction to normally maintain said arm out of contact with the stop, a weight indicating mechanism supported by the vehicle body and including dials, an indicating hand, a pulley for movement with said indicating hand, and a spring to move the indicating hand and pulley in one direction, flexible means having its ends connected with the pulleys so that when one end is wound upon one pulley by rotation thereof, L

the other end will be unwound from the other pulley, the sprlng of the operating mechanism tending to normally move the parts in a direction which will retain the indicating hand in the zero position against the action of the spring of the weight indicating mech anism, and means whereby the pulley of the operating mechanism may be manually operated against the action of its spring to relieve tension on the flexible means and permit the spring of the weight indicating mechanism to function for obtaining a weight indication.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto affixed my signature.

HARRY M. SWARTLEY. 

